Has Dish released a list of which receivers will be supported on Western Arc after May 2015? It would be interesting to know if they are really going all MPEG4 or just 8PSK.
Satellite Changes Coming - May 31st, 2015
- Thread starter bluegras
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We would like to make you aware that, in preparation for the launch of a new satellite, certain existing DISH customers will be required to complete equipment migrations in order to ensure that they do not experience any service interruption once the new satellite is operational. This migration will be taking place over the next year and DISH will be reaching out to customers to inform them of any necessary changes beginning next week.
Attached are the letters that will be sent in this first round of communication to impacted customers. As we move forward, additional communication may be sent to customers who have yet to migrate. DISH will be handling all migrations, so if a customer calls a Sales Partner, the agent should transfer the call to DISH as they usually would for existing customer upgrades.
Below is an overview of the two types of migration that DISH may be performing for the customers involved:
QPSK Migration
Eastern Arc Markets Migration
DMA
1
Albany Plus
2
Boston Plus (has Burlington)
3
Buffalo, NY
4
Burlington Plus
5
Burlington, VT/Plattsburg, NY
6
Chattanooga, TN
7
Evansville, IN
8
Jackson, MS
9
Jacksonville, FL/Brunswick, GA
10
Lansing, MI
11
Madison, WI
12
Northeast Portland-Auburn
13
Panama City, FL
14
Portland/Auburn, ME
15
Portland-Auburn Plus
16
Presque Isle, ME
17
Quincy, IL
18
Rockford, IL
19
Springfield, MO
20
Tallahassee, FL
21
Wheeling, WV/Steubenville, OH
Attached are the letters that will be sent in this first round of communication to impacted customers. As we move forward, additional communication may be sent to customers who have yet to migrate. DISH will be handling all migrations, so if a customer calls a Sales Partner, the agent should transfer the call to DISH as they usually would for existing customer upgrades.
Below is an overview of the two types of migration that DISH may be performing for the customers involved:
QPSK Migration
- Existing customers with one or more QPSK receiver on their account will be asked to upgrade to a more current receiver.
- QPSK receivers include:
- 301, 2800, 3700, 3900, 4900, 1000/1500, 3000/3500, 4000/4500, 5000/5500, 501, 508, 510
- The customer’s QPSK receivers will be upgraded at no upfront cost. The customer will also not be required to enter into a new commitment. An upfront cost and a new commitment may be required if a customer requests an upgrade to a Hopper system.
- These migrations must be completed by May 2015.
Eastern Arc Markets Migration
- Existing customers in certain DMAs will be required to upgrade to all MPEG-4 (HD) receivers and have their antenna flipped to the Eastern Arc.
- The customer will be upgraded and their antenna flipped at no cost. The customer will also not be required to enter into a new commitment. An upfront cost and a new commitment may be required if a customer requests an upgrade to a Hopper system.
- The migrations in the below DMAs must be completed by the end of 2015. Additional DMAs are being migrated on a reactive basis only, but these customers will not be receiving migration letters at this time.
DMA
1
Albany Plus
2
Boston Plus (has Burlington)
3
Buffalo, NY
4
Burlington Plus
5
Burlington, VT/Plattsburg, NY
6
Chattanooga, TN
7
Evansville, IN
8
Jackson, MS
9
Jacksonville, FL/Brunswick, GA
10
Lansing, MI
11
Madison, WI
12
Northeast Portland-Auburn
13
Panama City, FL
14
Portland/Auburn, ME
15
Portland-Auburn Plus
16
Presque Isle, ME
17
Quincy, IL
18
Rockford, IL
19
Springfield, MO
20
Tallahassee, FL
21
Wheeling, WV/Steubenville, OH
So it is not an mpeg4 upgrade it is only from QPSK, to 8psk. This is what was supposed to happen in May of this year. EA for the last three years at least have required MPEG 4 equipment. I agree, I would love to see all MPEG 2 equipment upgraded. That would be great for business. Get rid of all SD counterpart channels, and would still work with sd setups. This would make hd a standard and save the company money in the long run, not to mention they can boast that they are the only fully hd equivalent provider.
Odds are that a very high % of those customers will stay anyway so you can only factor in the % that would leave.
So long as they put off migrating to MPEG-4, you're good. But the 512 cannot handle MPEG-4 so when and if that day comes....
The longer they put this off, the less it will cost them. With customers just upgrading on their own and disconnecting, eventually everyone gets the newer hardware.
When was the last time you saw a Dish300 system on just 119? That migration to a Dish500 took 10 years.
When was the last time you saw a Dish300 system on just 119? That migration to a Dish500 took 10 years.
See them on RV accounts. That's about it. I see what you're saying though.
Maybe at least a commercial campaign telling SD customers to call in for incentives? That's very broad and vague but I'm sure someone can polish it up.
Maybe at least a commercial campaign telling SD customers to call in for incentives? That's very broad and vague but I'm sure someone can polish it up.
Replacing millions of receivers and the cost to replace them adds up to a lot of money, which Dish is NOT eager to spend.
It is that very attitude that has kept western arc from being totally mpeg 4 for years now. Eastern arc was all mpeg 4 since 08 when it debuted. If they had done the upgrades yes, it would mean a lot of money up front ,but they would of gained more space for more hd, 3d -when it was popular, and now 4k if they wanted to add a channel or two. So yes, they are saving money now, but at the cost of being first in the market for things like 4k , adding all the premium channels in HD - if they chose too , etc. They could also retire all older receivers and upgrade all subs to the latest Hd mpeg 4 receivers ,which would mean a simplification of all operating procedures, maintenance, upkeep ,software updates for all older receivers. All things which would reduce their total cost in the long run. So I say again , DISH is being Penny wise, pound foolish. Looking at only the fiscal year you are in and making no plans further than the year you are in , is short sighted and stupid.
Only Dish really knows the math. It would be interesting to know the number of MPEG-2 receivers still being used. 10 million? Remember it may be only a few million subs but how many TVs do they have hooked up? How many have HD on some sets and SD on the others? $50 each for replacement? $100? You have to factor in shipping and customer support time, not to mention a possible service call. It could easily be a billion dollars, cheaper to launch a satellite. This is why they are dragging this out so long.
How much extra revenue would all those extras add up to. The difference in subs would be a small margin overall. If Dish had projections the return would be there, it would have happened already. They don't see a return on the investment. They could be wrong, but it's obvious that's how they see it, and they have the real numbers to work with.
I'd like to think Dish has some really sharp bean counters doing the cost-benefit analysis.
Maybe they will come up with a year or two long campaign to offer incentives and cost sharing for upgrading to MPEG-4 equipment.
I just have a hard time believing that it was NOT cost effective to make the full switch to MPEG-4 equipment when upgrading QPSK boxes to 8PSK.
I've wondered the same on that point, just assume they have warehouses of returned 8PSK SD equipment.
Charles Ergen is worth $16 billion today. I am pretty sure that he and his expensive team of accountants have looked at all of the costs and are doing what is least expensive overall.
http://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-ergen/
http://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-ergen/
You think? You mean to tell me that all these keyboard jockeys on HoFo don't know what's better for Dish?
